Officer Down
by ccferrari
Summary: Spoilers for tonight's episode! This is something else that I think could have happened at the end.
1. Chapter 1

**SPOILERS FOR THE MOST RECENT EPISODE FROM 9-5-13. FROM LIKE AN HOUR AGO. I OBVIOUSLY DON'T KNOW THE NUMBER OR NAME, AND I'M TOO TIRED AND LAZY TO LOOK IT UP, SO YEAH.**

**This is a different scenario from the ending of tonight's episode. **

_Damn. _Andy sure wasn't exaggerating Marlo's obsession with Ford. Based on her basement setup, she could probably be qualified as a full-fledged stalker. As Nick leaned in a little bit more to read some of Marlo's notes, he heard a faint noise behind him. Eyebrows furrowing and muscles stiffening, Nick slowly moved his right hand so that it sat on his waist, just above his holstered weapon.

Another noise behind him.

There was definitely somebody there. Probably Ford. Nick's mind raced through his options, planning his next move very carefully. If Ford wanted him dead, he would already have a bullet in the back of his head. Why was ford waiting…?

If Nick just pretended not to notice the rusteling noise behind him, maybe that would buy some time. Just maybe.

Could he be unarmed? There were too many variables to consider. Nick continued to pretend to study Marlo's bulletin board, secretly searching for some sort of reflective surface that might be of some help. He found none.

Finally after what felt like hours, but was probably only around thirty seconds, Collins decided that sooner or later he had to do something. And if he reacted sooner, he would probably have the upper hand.

The second before Nick moved to spin around and draw his gun, a single shot fired from behind. Then the only thing that Nick could comprehend was pain. Lots of pain. Pain everywhere.

He heard footsteps, Oliver's voice, and sirens in the distance.

Soon Shaw's face filled his foggy vision.

"Collins," he yelled, holding Nick's head stable on both sides,

"Officer down," Shaw yelled into his radio before returning to Collins.

"Nick, stay with me, the medics are almost here, come on buddy, don't die on me!"

Nick groaned, struggling to keep his eyes open as pain seemed to flood in from every part of his body.

"Collins! Just listen to my voice, Alright, you got to keep your eyes open! Collins! Collins?"

His eyes began to droop, the pain becoming hard to ignore.

Oliver's voice began to fade until it was just like muffled background music.

Slowly the cloudy image of Oliver faded away and soon it replaced by a glowing image of Andy.

Andy.

And then it all went black.

**Thanks for reading. This episode was so intense! Feel free to share what you thought of the episode (and maybe this fic) in the reviews! I hope to update insanely soon :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**I told you I'd update soon! I'd say half an hour isn't too shabby, haha! **

"Andy," Oliver quickly said in a serious tone as soon she answered the phone.

"Yeah, I was just about to call you, we're with Marlo, she's fi-"

"Andy," he repeated, the serious nature of the call now becoming blatantly obvious.

"What happened? Is Chloe out of surgery?" Andy asked, speaking at a much faster pace, grabbing Sam's attention from where he sat across the kitchen counter.

"It's Nick," is all Shaw said. It's all he needed to say.

"What? What happened? Is he okay? Oh my god, has he been shot?" Andy asked rapidly, turning away from Sam's penetrating eyes.

"He's been shot," Oliver grimly stated, feeling incredibly guilty. He could hear McNally's sharp intake of breath over the phone, "But he was stable when the medics took him away to Saint Patrick's."

Andy didn't respond for a few seconds. She just turned farther away from Swarek and stared at the opposite wall, taking deep breaths in an attempt to withhold the gallons of tears that threatened to overwhelm her. .

"Okay," Andy replied, "Was it Ford?" she asked, although she already knew the answer.

"Yes, but we caught him."

"Okay. Thanks Oliver," she said before promptly hanging up. She took another moment of staring at the wall before turning back to Sam.

Sam, only having heard half of the conversation, raised a questioning eyebrow although he already had a pretty good guess as to what had happened.

"Marlo, you ready?" Andy shouted down the hallway, breaking eye contact with Sam.

"Yep," she replied, strolling out of the bedroom as she tied back her hair.

"Good. We're going to the hospital."

* * *

"Thanks," Andy said, turning off the siren as they pulled into the hospital parking lot.

"No problem," Sam replied glumly as Andy hopped out and slammed the car door, "We'll drop by after checking in at the station," Swarek shouted out the window as she jogged through the hospital doors, giving a slight thumbs up to acknowledge that she heard him.

That was an awkward car ride.

"Officer Nicholas Collins," Andy told a nurse at the front desk, "He was shot, and I was told that he was in surgery here.

"Alright," the nurse said as the typed things into the computer with lightning speed, "Ah, here we go. If you'll follow me right this way, I'll grab a doctor who can explain his condition."

"Thank you," Andy managed to reply as the nurse led her down some twisting corridors.

_Nick had been shot. Nick could die. Die, as in she would never see him again. She would never see that perfect smile, those beautiful eyes, and that charming personality. She would never laugh with him again. He would be dead. Gone forever. He would never know how much he meant to her. _

_She couldn't live on knowing all that. Knowing that he was gone. Knowing that he never knew. That she never told him. _

_ So that meant that Nick just can't die. He won't die. She wouldn't let him die. _

Just thinking of this brought more tears to McNally's eyes, and she struggled to hold them back as the nurse's pace slowed and they approached a middle aged woman in scrubs.

"I'm Dr. Heather Reilly, I'm one of the surgeons working on Officer Collins. It's nice to meet you, Officer…" she trailed off, eyes searching to read the nametag.

"McNally," Andy replied, reaching out to shake the doctor's hand, "So how's he doing?" she asked, jumping right to the point.

The doctor sighed tiredly before responding. _That's never a good sign._

"Where do I begin…"

**Okeydoke, that's all for tonight. I promise to update within the next three days though! Thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites that I've already gotten! RB fans are the best! And I'm sorry that these chapters are so short! :( I promise that there are some better ones to come! This story is essentially what I thought would happen when I was watching the scene. Anyway, please review! Tell me what you thought of the episode and the promo! Thanks, goodnight! -cc**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm sorry that it took so long to upload! I had some writer's block! Thank you to everybody for your support! **

"Officer Collins sustained one gunshot to the right side of upper back, just below the neck," Dr. Reilly quickly explained as Andy followed her into a small room. The doctor flipped a switch and soon a fluorescent light board flickered to life, revealing an x-ray of Nick's body.

"He's been pretty lucky so far. The bullet was through-and-through and it managed to miss most of the important organs in the area. Unfortunately it nicked his right subclaven artery, which complicated things quite a bit," the doctor said, motioning to areas on a CT scan that she was now holding up.

As Dr. Reilly continued to talk about foreign medical things that Andy had no hope of understanding or retaining, McNally's mind drifted far away.

_If that bullet had been just half an inch lower, his vest would have caught it, and Nick would be okay. _

She flashed back to what he had said to her earlier in the day when Chloe was shot. She had seen the terror in his eyes when he noticed the rip in the fabric of her vest, and she saw the horror on his face when he connected the dots and realized just how lucky he was.

_If only Nick had the same luck. Just half an inch._

"What are his chances?" Andy blurted out, interrupting the doctor who finals noticed the tears welling in McNally's eyes.

"It's probably too soon to tell," the doctor said with a sad, sympathetic smile, "But he will probably make it. We still expect at least another two hours of surgery. Do you know of any next of kin for us to call?"

Andy paused for a moment before responding. She knew that he was an only child and his parents passed away when he was still a kid, but they really hadn't talked much about family.

"Nope. It's just me," she replied as the doctor led her to the door.

"Okay, I'll show you somewhere to wait for news," Dr. Reilly said, closing the door and leading Andy down another hallway to a set of unoccupied chairs, "Oh, one more thing," the doctor said abruptly, grabbing a bag of things from a nurses station, "I have Officer Collins' clothes. I'm assuming that you'll want that for evidence?"

"Yes, that would be great, thanks," McNally managed to spurt out, signing for the evidence before accepting the bag of gear before sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the hallway.

So McNally sat, clutching Nick's bag of bloody clothes and holding it tight to her chest protectively. She was relieved that nobody tried to bother her. She kind of wanted to be alone to think. Well, she wanted to be with Nick, wrapped in his strong arms, but at this rate that wasn't going to be a possibility for a while. She still couldn't believe everything that's happened. First Chloe, now Nick.

Eventually Oliver showed up and sat beside Andy. He explained what happened at Marlo's house with Ford before they promptly went silent. It was at least an hour and a half before the shrill ring of Andy's cell phone drew her from her thoughts.

"Hello," she stated without emotion after moving the phone to her ear.

"McNally," _Damn it. Sam. She really didn't want to deal with him right now._

"Yeah. What is it?" she asked, looking down at her watch nervously. _Shouldn't she have gotten some sort of update from the doctor by now?_

"Frank just wanted an update on Collins' condition," Sam replied, "are you okay?" he asked before she had a chance to form a response.

"Still in surgery," she stated, holding the bag of gear even closer to her chest. Andy chose not to respond to the second, more personal question.

"Okay," Swarek responded, taking a hint.

"How's Chloe?" Andy rushed to add.

"In recovery, she's going to be okay," Sam said.

"That's awesome," McNally said, not feeling as happy as she should, "I'll see you later?" Andy assumed, looking down the hallway to her left to see the Dr. Reilly strolling toward Oliver and herself.

"Yeah," Sam began, "And McNally?" he started hopefully.

"Yeah?" she said quickly, standing to meet the doctor.

"Never mind," Swarek stated quickly after a moment.

"Okay," Andy said, trying not to think of what Sam was going to say, "Bye."

She hung up as Dr. Reilly covered the remaining distance between them and began to speak, "Officer Collins is out of surgery. He's in recovery now."

A wave of relief washed over Andy's face at the news, "Is he conscious? When can we see him?"

"Right now, if you'd like to follow me right this way," Dr. Reilly said as she began walking, Oliver and Andy following close behind. Two minutes later they reached a long hallway with patients on either hallway, separated by curtains. Most of them were asleep, having just come out of surgery like Collins. The doctor came to a stop in front of Nick's bed and explained that Nick would get his own room when one was available in a few hours. She then bowed out quietly after receiving a "thank you" from Oliver.

Andy, on the other hand, couldn't say anything. She stood by the foot of the bed, eyes glued to Nick. He lay asleep in the bed, an oxygen hose connected to his nose. A blanket was wrapped around most of his torso and lower body, but she could still see goose bumps covering his limp arms. She was shocked by how broken he looked. There were bandages covering most of his upper body as well.

Water brimmed in her eyes as she slowly made her way around the bed and grasped his warm hand. She couldn't help but collapse in the chair that was so conveniently placed beside the bed.

"McNally," Oliver said, forcing Andy to move her eyes from Nick's unconscious form. She had nearly forgotten that he was there, "How about I go take Collins' clothes back to the station to log in evidence?" he prompted gently, sensing how delicate she was.

"Oh," Andy said, looking down at the bag of things that she was still holding tight to her chest. She had nearly forgotten about that too, "Yeah, sure," she replied, handing him the bag of gear, "Thanks," she added as he began to walk back down the hallway with a nod.

"He's gonna be okay McNally. You hang in there," Oliver added over his shoulder as he headed out.

Andy turned back to Collins, allowing a few tears so escape her eyes. She reluctantly released the iron grip she had on Nick's hand to take off her coat and scoot her seat closer to the bed. She then reclaimed his hand and moved her other hand up to his face, caressing it gently.

* * *

"Peck," Shaw called as he entered the station, where she had been since their close call with Ford.

"Hey, how's Nick?" she asked nonchalantly, trying to hide her worry.

"He's good. Still unconscious, but he's going to make it," Oliver said with a nod as he approached the desk where she sat glumly.

"Okay. What did you need?" she asked expectantly.

"Oh, right. I have Collins' stuff to be processed and put into evidence," he said, holding up the bulky plastic bag.

"Got it," Gail said, accepting the package and handing Oliver a clipboard with forms to sign.

Ten minutes later Gail carefully opened the bag and pulled out the items. A blood stained jacket, shirt, and undershirt. His radio, his gun, his belt, his pants, underwear – she actually remembered the pair from their time together – socks, shoes, and finally his vest. She folded everything and placed them in evidence bags, carefully marking everything.

She had managed to remain distant, and emotionally uninvolved throughout this process, but she had difficulty doing this when she saw the message on his vest.

**I hope you liked it! Personally I wasn't too crazy about this chapter, but at least it's a bit longer than the others! Please continue to read and review! Thanks again! -ccferrari**


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter is very short and very late. Please accept my sincerest apologies for that. I know how horrible it feels to be left hanging by an inconsistent author like myself! I've been quite heartbroken since the RB finale, and my mother was recently diagnosed with cancer, so life's been pretty hectic. I'd like to promise that I'll have a better, longer chapter up in the coming days, but you shouldn't count on it. Thank you all so much for reading!**

Gail read the message quickly, face cold and emotionless.

_You're the best thing that has ever happened to me, Andy. These past few weeks have been the best weeks of my life, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I love you. - Nick_

Gail's jaw nearly dropped to the ground. She didn't know how to react. Tears immediately filled her eyes. She couldn't believe it. Were Nick and Andy actually that serious? She didn't want to think about it. Not only did Nick develop a crush on Andy while they were still together, but he wrote romantic confessions for her?

Gail had never gotten a message anything like that from Nick when they were dating on and off for years.

A mixture of countless emotions flooded her brain. Jealousy. Anger. Depression. She didn't know what to do or think.

So she stuffed the vest in an evidence bag, wiped her eyes, and moved on.

"Nick," Andy sputtered, jumping to her feet as a slow groan emitted from his unmoving figure, "Nick," she said again, her hand gravitating toward his lifeless hand once again as she leant closer to his bed.

"Nick, are you awake?" she persisted, heart soaring at the thought of his soft brown eyes capturing hers again. All she received in response was a slight tightening of his hand.

She smacked a nurse call button on the side of his bed before moving her other hand to stroke his forehead as his eyes twitched.

"Nick," she whispered, tears gathering in her eyes.

Suddenly his eyes fluttered open, and he blinked several times before making eye contact with his terrified girlfriend. Her breath hitched instantly and a smile graced his face upon seeing each other again.

"Hey," she began with a smile as a nurse pushed past through a curtain into the small area.

"Hey," he replied.

**So what did you think? Any ideas about what should happen next? Please don't hesitate to let me know what you thought of this chapter in the review section!**


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